Strategic Step #4: Integrate new technologies.

Success story: Seminary training at your fingertips.
In 1996 Bethel Seminary launched InMinistry, the nation's first fully accredited seminary distance learning program. Today it is still one of the few to offer complete master's degrees online with yearly on-campus intensives. A fifth degree program—the M.A. in Global and Contextual Studies—launches in June 2006. Approximately 350 ministry practitioners from across the U.S. and at least 10 other countries are becoming better equipped for kingdom service without leaving their homes or jobs. "Not a quarter goes by that we don't upgrade a technology," says Kristin Anderson, program director. Yet despite the program's oft-imitated technical innovations, its focus remains on students. "We can have all the technology in the world, but if we don't love students, it just doesn't matter," Anderson emphasizes. "It's less about leading with technology and more about serving people."

A new generation of students is accustomed to building relationships and gathering information through networks and cell phones. They expect it. But there are other reasons to use and teach the wise application of technology. It allows us to cross distances to reach and train Christian leaders in unprecedented ways. Also, it's the technically savvy graduates who will lead in a society where commerce, education, and government hinge on technology. Bethel must continue to harness electronic tools even as these tools change relentlessly.

Bethel Steps Ahead

• Technology enhances recruitment, teaching, and learning throughout Bethel University. In the College of Arts & Sciences, prospective students can explore Bethel interactively through chats and emails, then apply online. Once enrolled, students can log on to a wireless internet throughout most of the campus, including residence halls.
• An internal website allows online course registration, access to professors and class updates, and connection among the entire Bethel community from coast to coast. In the next two years, Bethel will gain new capabilities with the implementation of a web-based "portal" technology and significantly improved software.
• The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program at Bethel Seminary is the first to benefit from Bethel University's new partnership with Apple. Bethel was recently accepted into Apple's iTunes U program and will use Apple servers to post content for student access. D.Min. students will receive iPods as part of their educational package and will download regular podcasts of course content and administrative information.
• The College of Adult & Professional Studies and the Graduate School are using new software called the Worldwide Instructional Design System. It permits professors to develop online courses that preserve the schools' hallmark emphases on learner performance and competency.
• The Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program, launched two years ago, combines summer residencies with course work offered online using Blackboard technology. Current students range from Minnesota educators seeking K-12 certification to others planning to work in Mexico, Turkey, and Iraq. "Bethel reaches outside its own boundaries and creates new school leaders internationally," says program director John Greupner, Ph.D.

Our vision: We prepare graduates to serve in strategic capacities. Tim Taylor, M.Div. student and associate pastor at Coopersville Reformed Church in Coopersville, Michigan. "It lends itself to diversity because of its learning system, pulling together people from all denominations and backgrounds. As you connect with students nationwide, you realize how global God really is."

Strategic Steps

• 1: Make disciples of Jesus Christ.
• 2: Emphasize quality scholarship.
• 3: Reconcile cultures and races.
• 4: Integrate new technologies.
• 5: Serve a longer-living population.
• 6: Be relevant to society.
• 7: Remain sound and affordable.
• 8: Equip students before college.